About half of the $1 million in matching grant funding to prevent local opioid abuse has been allocated to agencies ranging from preschools to those working with retirees.
Leaders of the Alliance for Substance Abuse Progress reported that information at a recent meeting with Tracy Souza, president and chief executive officer for The Heritage Fund — the Community Foundation of Bartholomew County and with Beth Morris, director of community health partnerships at Columbus Regional Hospital.
ASAP leaders including executive lead Jeff Jones have been working alongside a wide range of community partners on prevention, intervention, treatment and recovery.
The Project Prevent grant program, meant to encourage local residents to avoid drug addiction and abuse, is funded through the $1 million Mark and Wendy Elwood Substance Abuse Prevention Fund. It was created when the Elwoods agreed to donate $500,000 if the community matched that amount, which community members did.
“One of the benefits of community education and Project Prevent is to see the stigmas associated with addictions fading,” Jones said.
Of the $457,491, distributed thus far, the largest allocations have been to the Bartholomew Consolidated School Corp. for $125,600 covering three grants for work over about a two-year period.
For more on this story, see Thursday’s Republic.
